Unoctennium
Unocteinium, Uoe, is the temporary name for element 189. NUCLEAR What follows is based on a first-order, liquid-drop assessment of where the outer boundary of the nuclear world is. Assume cautious values for how many neutrons a nucleus with 189 protons can bind (high neutron dripline) and how few it can have before it fissions immediately regardless of how much the structure it can develop stabilizes it (low must-fission curve). Assume, too, that anything that lasts long enough so that protons and neutrons can be treated as particles rather than collections of quarks (is causal) might be a nucleus. Under these conditions, Uoe isotopes are theoretically possible between Uoe 488 and Uoe 829 (see "The Final Element", this wiki). Uoe 488 through Uoe 662 are expected to decay by beta emission if they don’t fission quickly. Above that value of A, the confident neutron dripline, drops may decay by neutron emission before they can fission. (Structural correction does not affect neutron emission.) Isotopes lighter than Uoe 514 need more than twice the structural correction energy needed to prevent fission in worst-case nuclei in the A = 480 region(1). Predicting whether or not the structure a nuclear drop can develop will allow it to survive for the 10^-14 sec required for it to bind an electron and so become an atomic nucleus is not usually possible at this time. Neutron shell closures have been predicted at N = 406, and 370(2),(3),(4). The isotope Uoe 595 requires 5.5 MeV of structural correction, which means some isotopes in the Uoe 585 to Uoe 600 band are likely. Uoe 559 requires 11.5 MeV of structural correction energy, which means some isotopes in the band Uoe 549 to Uoe 564 may be possible if the closure is strong. Long beta-decay half-lives in this band are expected, so decay by alpha emission is likely. Between Uoe 514 and Uoe 725 some drops may be nuclei. Outside this band, isotopes of Uoe are nearly impossible. ATOMIC Electron structure of Uoe has not been studied closely, but it is likely to differ significantly from the conventional orbitals found in lower-Z nuclei. While only the innermost electrons would be qualitatively different, other electrons are likely to be quantitatively different from those in lower-Z atoms. Uoe is also large enough that nuclear shape may have an effect on electron structure, which might cause different isotopes of Uoe to have different electronic structures. (That means it is no longer an element in the chemical sense.) Predictions of atomic or chemical properties of Uoe are risky. FORMATION Ions of this element may form when material from roughly 1 km depth is ejected from a disintegrating neutron star during a merger. It is probably impossible for lighter isotopes to form in this way. Fusion or multinucleon transfer reactions in the polar jets emanating from a neutron star or black hole might produce lighter isotopes, including those in the Uoe 585 to Uoe 600 and Uoe 549 to Uoe 564 bands. Quantities amount to a few atoms per star at best. REFERENCES 1. "Decay Modes and a Limit of Existence of Nuclei"; H. Koura; 4th Int. Conf. on the Chemistry and Physics of Transactinide Elements; Sept. 2011. 2. "Magic Numbers of Ultraheavy Nuclei"; V. Yu Denisov; Physics of Atomic Nuclei, v. 68, no. 7, pp 1133-1137; 2005. 3. “Search for Superheavy Elements Among Fossil Fission Tracks in Zircon”; J. Maly & D.R. Walz; Stanford Linear Accelerator Center publication SLAC-PUB-2554; July 1980. 4. “Single Particle Levels of Spherical Nuclei in the Superheavy and Extremely Superheavy Mass Region”; H. Koura and S. Chiba; Journal of the Physical Society of Japan; DOI 10.7566/JPSJ.82.014201; Jan. 2013. (12-07-19)